Online Pass Vs Used Game Sales & You

Online passes are a way for publishers to increase sales of their games and to try and stop people from purchasing used versions of the games. Online passes, VIP codes, kombat pass, battle code, online axxess and other little codes in the new video game boxes are only good for a single account. No matter what you call them, some offer good deals for purchasing a video game brand new, while others give us a special bonus. Why would a manufacturer want to have such passes anyways? the answer is simple to keep their sales flowing in and prevent companies like Gamestop, EBGames and other used games retailers from making large profits off the games. For games such as Battlefield 3 you need an online pass or VIP code to play the game online, this has made an impact on game rental services such as Gamefly and Blockbuster, because if you rent the game you would have to spend extra money for the pass in order to play online in multiplayer.

You will find an online pass or vip code for almost every EA game on the market in the past two years. So is this good marketing or is it just a way to keep the consumer in check? To a point the publishers, developers and everyone involved has to make a profit and a large one at that in order to want to put out more title in a game and put updates through. If you don't make money you can't pay for patches and if you don't make money you can't survive. The video game industry is always changing and with those changes we will find more little things coming along to prevent us from just spending the $60.00 for a game. The one part of these passes that can be aggravating for a player is that some gamers like to test out games before they buy them, for example if you have never played battlefield 2 and wanted to see how the gameplay in bf3 was, you might want to rent it to see how it works. Some games that utilize an online pass will all you to play for the first five ranks/levels of the game before you have to purchase or apply your pass.

As you can see in the list below these are a few of the games using the online pass to make sure that you purchase a new copy of the game. These are just a few and in the upcoming months you will find that many more are doing the same thing and this is going to put an impact on used video game sales or some of the popular and anticipated titles coming out are going to find themselves alone on shelves as people don't buy them. For the most part you might get the first DLC for free if you have an online pass and had bought the game brand new.

• Battlefield 3
• Dead Space 2
• Dragon Age 2
• EA Sports MMA
• Saints Row: The Third
• Madden NFL 11
• Mortal Kombat
• Resistance 3
• Uncharted 3

The publishers that utilize the online passes for their game blame the used game retailers for the action. Though what they are not telling you is that retailers such as gamestop, ebgames are apart of the game industry and help to promote the games. If you have ever gone into a gamestop and pre-ordered a game you will notice that you get all these bonuses and extras that are exclusive to gamestop. How do you think that this happens, the developers add these extras in there and the publishers get the codes for the games. So the blame game is just another way of doing business and remain working together.

The consumer might not be happy about what is going on but if you really think about it you are purchasing the games single player mode and nothing more, any game that allows you to play multiplayer is considered a privilege and is under the rights of the company and publisher to do as they want and make any changes they like to the MP aspect of the game. Yes this sounds unfair and a wrong to consumers, but if you look at it from a money making aspect you work a full time job so that you can get what you want. A publisher has to pay developers to update games and to keep them in business so that the consumer can have an experience that is well worth what they spent for their money.

For the most part when you purchase a video game that game is yours to do with as you please, as long as you don't violate or try to hack the coding of the game you own that copy of the game. What most players don't realize is that when you purchase a game being it brand new or used, you are only purchasing the rights to play the single player game and nothing more. Have you ever known anyone who had there cod account band, they can still play the single player campaign and any offline modes, just not the multiplayer. This is because the companies control and own all rights to multiplayer aspects of games. So in some ways if you purchase a used game and don't want to purchase an online pass for it, you don't have to but you wont beable to play it online as the right to play online is not yours.

I can understand why the publishers are doing this with games, they have to make money and get back what they are losing on used games. Though when you purchase a game used you are supporting the businesses like gamestop that also offer rewards to card holders for purchasing used games. Though this is an effect on rentals of games as you would need to purchase the pass in order to play online, and possibly waste your money when you return the game. But if you use a service like gamefly you will find that if you rent the game and three months later decide to purchase it, all the codes that come with the box are going to be valid.

There is really no way to fix the online pass problem as it is already in place and publishers have seen the green come in. This effect is due to many people who purchase used games are going to want to play them online and in multiplayer modes. Yes the consumer has the power to show the publisher that we are not going to stand for this, but that would mean not purchasing your favorite video games for awhile and spreading the word. Will this help? it might, but in the end the publisher will just come up with a new way to have consumers spend extra money when they purchase a used video game. Personally I don't think that having to purchase an online pass for a user game is going to slow down or even stop the sale of used video games, as long as there are games out there that gamers want to own they will purchase them.